Abstract
We present the discovery of a white dwarf companion to the G1 V star 12 Psc found as part of a Keck adaptive optics imaging survey of long-term accelerating stars from the McDonald Observatory Planet Search Program. Twenty years of precise radial-velocity monitoring of 12 Psc with the Tull Spectrograph at the Harlan J. Smith telescope reveals a moderate radial acceleration (approximate to 10 m s(-1) yr (-1)), which together with relative astrometry from Keck/NIRC2 and the astrometric acceleration between Hipparcos and Gaia DR2 yields a dynamical mass of M-B = 0.605(-0.022)(+0.021) M-circle dot for 12 Psc B, a semimajor axis of 40(-4)(+2) au, and an eccentricity of 0.84 +/- 0.08. We also report an updated orbital fit of the white dwarf companion to the metal-poor (but barium-rich) G9 V dwarf HD 159062 based on new radial-velocity observations from the High-Resolution Spectrograph at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and astrometry from Keck/NIRC2. A joint fit of the available relative astrometry, radial velocities, and tangential astrometric acceleration yields a dynamical mass of M-B = 0.609(-0.011)(+0.010) M-circle dot for HD 159062 B, a semimajor axis of 60(-7)(+5) au, and preference for circular orbits (e < 0.42 at 95% confidence). 12 Psc B and HD 159062 B join a small list of resolved Sirius-like benchmark white dwarfs with precise dynamical mass measurements which serve as valuable tests of white dwarf mass-radius cooling models and probes of AGB wind accretion onto their main-sequence companions.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 106 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-17 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Astronomical Journal |
Volume | 161 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 8 Feb 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2021 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- astro-ph.SR